How can I record a payment by check on an Invoice, and send a receipt?

[Huladog]

The title of this post has been edited from the original: How do I send a receipt without having sent an invoice?

I'm fairly new to Square.  I have a customer who consistently sends check before I create my invoices at end of month.  I don't want to email her an invoice *after* she's already paid so I have been selecting the "share manually" option on the invoice so they don't receive it.  I then mark it as paid, but the sending of a receipt seems a bit messy.  As far as I can tell, there's no way to send a receipt while in the invoice itself.  The only place I've found a "send receipt" option is under "transactions" where it makes me type the email address by hand rather that allowing me to search my contact list to select an email address.  This is proving to be cumbersome.  Is there an easier way to do this that I'm just not seeing?

[#2]

This reply was updated in 2020.

While Square doesn't process cash/check payments, you can mark an invoice as paid to help keep track of all of your payments no matter the method! 

To record a payment from your Square Dashboard:  

1.  Navigate to your online Square Dashboard.
2.  Select an invoice.
3. Select Record Payment and then select the payment type. If you processed your client’s payment with the Square app or Virtual Terminal, select "Square Point of Sale" to prevent duplicate reporting. Keep in mind, these will not appear as Invoice transactions in sales reports.
4. Click Confirm.

You can also mark an invoice as paid from the Invoices app or from Square Point of Sale app. Open the app and selecting the invoice > click Add Payment > select Record Payment > then select the payment type.

[brentdca]

cash payments

[Kelly]

This reply was updated in 2020.

While Square doesn't process cash/check payments, you can mark an invoice as paid to help keep track of all of your payments no matter the method! 

To record a payment from your Square Dashboard:  

1.  Navigate to your online Square Dashboard.
2.  Select an invoice.
3. Select Record Payment and then select the payment type. If you processed your client’s payment with the Square app or Virtual Terminal, select "Square Point of Sale" to prevent duplicate reporting. Keep in mind, these will not appear as Invoice transactions in sales reports.
4. Click Confirm.

You can also mark an invoice as paid from the Invoices app or from Square Point of Sale app. Open the app and selecting the invoice > click Add Payment > select Record Payment > then select the payment type.

[brentdca]

Thanks

Kelly

[AnnieT]

Following up on this. I'm using Square to send my invoices. Can I add an option on the actual invoice for pay by check? Then once I receive and process the check I understand that I will have to log on and mark the invoice has paid. 

I have an online business (no register and I don't have the app). It's important to keep all of my invoices in the same place and I want to accept check payments. Can you help me out?

[JustinC]

Square Invoices are designed to be paid by credit card through email, so adding a pay by check option is not available. You can add a message to the invoice before send that says something like:

If you prefer to pay by check, call us directly

Then collect payment within the POS app. @AnnieT

[cromleyc]

I have a customer who paid with a check but I want to send them an invoice that says paid with check so I have  a record of the transaction.  Can I do this?

[Twanna]

put the item in your register like any other then click the charge button go to other click check then send an email as a receipt.

[Spenser]

Yep, as @Twanna said, you can enter Other Tender payments in order to track the sales and issue receipts for all transaction types. There are no fees for doing so, since Square is not actually processing the transaction! Hope that helps. 

[IRC]

Can this be done to clear an invoice that was paid by check?  Found my own answer. Under more click check. 

[coins]

Receipt...  how do i generate a receipt to send to my customer?

[EJ_]

@coins Receipts are generated after every completed transaction. If you need to resend a receipt to one of your customers, locate the transaction in your Transactions Tab, click on it, then click the "Send Receipt" option that comes up in the payment window. 

[WhateverPopsUp]

How do I process a payment by check for an emailed invoice that was paid by hard copy check?

[Helen]

@WhateverPopsUp If your customer paid you by check you can record the invoice as paid following these steps:

1. Sign in to your online Square Dashboard and navigate to the Invoices section.
2. Click on the invoice in question > then, from the screen on the right click Record Payment.
3. Click Check from the list of options, and decide if you want to notify your customer by email or add a note.
4. Click Confirm.

The payment will be recorded in your sales history as received by check and you can lodge the check in your bank (Suqare doesn't have a way to process checks electronically).

[bjohnsoncarves]

That helps Helen, but my bigger concern is how to create an invoice that includes "Payment by Check" as an acceptable form of payment. I don't create a lot of Invoices, but I'm certain that I have created them in the past where payment by Check was an acceptable form of payment. If not, I'm absolutely certain that MY "standard" Invoice template did not restrict payment options to only 2 choices - Credit Card, or Gift Card. Please tell me what I'm missing. Bottom line: Any Invoice I create and deliver to a customer MUST show "Check" as an acceptable form of payment. 

[AshleyK]

Hey @bjohnsoncarves! I'm gonna step in for Helen since I just ran across this thread. I hear you - it can be confusing to have to basically select credit card or gift card when creating an invoice and it would be nice to select the expected form of payment for the invoice at the beginning of the invoice creation process. 

While this is a feature request, you can still mark an invoice as paid for by check, but when creating the invoice you will need to choose "credit card" as the form of payment. After that, when your customer gives you a check, you can mark the invoice as paid for by check.

[bjohnsoncarves]

Thank you Ashley. As usual, I appreciate your help and the help of "the community", while at the same time, I think it's downright criminal for Square to place the burden on volunteer help instead of spending some of their profits on their own in-house dedicated support staff.

Work-arounds continue to be the stuff of Square. They should be ashamed!

That said, again thank you. Although, I will not be sending any invoices to my customers, knowing the information is incorrect and/or inaccurate. I'll handwrite "By Check" if I have too, because either way, that invoice is a reflection on me and on my business practices. If I received an invoice that listed "by Credit Card", but did not list "by Check", and I always paid by Check, I would be upset with the business I'm receiving the Invoice from! Who would ever assume the problem is entirely the fault of the company that provides the backend software that generates the invoices? I'm sorry to take this out on you. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE report me to Square so they'll, at least, know that one customer is upset enough to take the time to address this total failure of common sense on their part.

[Minion · Accepted solution]

Hey @Huladog 

You can record a payment for check and send a receipt by trying the following.

From the online dashboard go to Virtual Terminal > Take Payment then choose to either Quick Charge or Itemized payment.  You can search for your customer under the Payment section while recording your method of payment as well.  Once you hit Charge, you'll have the option of sending the receipt to their email. 

[Huladog]

That is so much easier.  Thank you so much!

[RSG2]

I tried this, but the invoice doesn't show the payment.

[JJ_]

In this case, your alternative would be to download the Invoice PDF from the Square Dashboard and then email it to your Customer. The PDF will indeed show the processed payment at the bottom.  I hope this information is helpful @RSG2!

P.S. Welcome to the Seller Community